To be really saddened by this?

[padboz]

It's my 8 year old's birthday today. She asked for some really quite expensive presents, which we talked about together and I ordered over the internet. As it had pretty much hit the family £100 per child limit, I asked DH to pick up some small bits and bobs to wrap - pencils, hair clips etc, I left him to it and didn't think about it again. All her presents from family and friends were all in one pile, which she opened. Then DH went on, out of the blue, to give her the presents 'from Daddy', and there were lots of way over budget items. I felt this looked like I only got shared presents for her, so I tried to explain to DD that I had bought the big presents, but he whispered under his breath 'I didn't realise it was a competition, now I will have to get her something else!'. I feel really sad about this. Am I being unreasonable?

Good God. Really? You did this?

Too weird. Do you two always carry on like this or is it a first?

WTF presents in your house sound wierd

Eh? Are you separated then?

You told her you had bought the big presents, as not to be outdone? Geez

What? Really? I think you both need to get a grip here.

Why did You feel the need to tell her You bought the Big present?

Both if you were bu. him to say what he did, and you to say what you did.

you both sound really childish

He's already having a competition isn't he, if he didn't do what you asked but went OTT on purpose "from daddy" . Is there some pre-existing issue, is he generally like this? I don't think you should have tried to claim presents were from just you either though.

You need to solve this if possible by only having presents from you both and agreeing on that.

Why did she need hair clips and pencils as well?

Birthday = one present from mum & dad (unless of course separated) surely?

You both need to stop being so materialistic and ridiculous over 'things'. Get a reality check.

You should have just said 'No darling Daddy is being silly, all the presents are from both of us, nothing is just from Daddy or just from Mummy.'

And then asked DH WTF he was playing at out of earshot of DD.

What a very odd way for the pair of you to carry on.

Gift giving in your house sounds like an odd experience...

Hi Op, I don't think either of you come out this looking good. However, I suspect there is a back story... You sound as though you don't like one another. Hopefully your daughter has not felt the tension.

for you and
for your daughter

Presents are always from Mum AND Dad surely. Unless the parents are seperated.

Is she having a good birthday? If the answer is yes then stop worrying and ignore your weird about presents DH!

Well your DH sounds like a knob, but I don't think you dealt with it very well either. I agree, you should have just laughed and said 'Daddy's just joking. We bought you our presents together' and then told your husband to cop himself on when DD wasn't there.

Thank you for the replies. I really thought that we were both just giving some presents and that they were all from both of us. I felt that this extra flourish out of the blue of presents 'from Daddy' was a bit weird and didn't want her to think that there was nothing from me.

If you aren't separated then surely, there's no such thing as "Daddy's or Mummy's presents? All gifts automatically come from both parents. Why wouldn't they? It strikes me that there's something distinctly odd about this situation and I'm wondering what the backstory is.

Oh dear, this sounds a bit strange, almost as if her father wants to be "best parent"

What hello said.

So you're not separated then?

Make sure he doesn't have any similar stunts planned for Christmas.

So you were expecting all the things he got to also be from both of you but he gave them just from him, is that right?